Congress: Say No to Amnesty and Yes to Enforcing Our Immigration Laws

It’s time for Congress to stop proposing new amnesty programs and to begin enforcing the immigration laws we already have.

American voters are more concerned than ever over illegal immigration. The Gallup poll has asked Americans about the “Importance of Controlling U.S. Borders to Halt the Flow of Illegal Immigrants Into the U.S.” twice in 2006, once in 2010, and again in June 2011. The results for the first three polls showed 43, 44, and 42% said that the need for government action to halt the flow of illegal immigrants at the borders was “extremely important.” When asked the same question in June this year, a striking 53% considered government action to stop illegal immigration to be “extremely important,” an 11-point increase in the past year alone. Another 29% consider such action to be “very important,” 12% “moderately important,” while only 7% say it is “not that important.”

A recent Rasmussen poll found that 64% of likely voters say that gaining control of our borders is more important than legalizing the status of (otherwise known as granting amnesty to) illegal immigrants. Thirty-one percent (31%) disagree and think legalization should come first. Other recent Rasmussen polls have revealed: Sixty-seven percent (67%) of voters say it’s better to enforce existing immigration laws than to create new laws to control illegal immigration; Sixty-one percent (61%) oppose automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to women who are here illegally; and Fifty-seven percent (57%) think the federal government’s policies and practices encourage illegal immigration.

Nonetheless, even though a solid majority of the American public favors fixing the illegal immigration problem by controlling our borders as the top priority, President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders continue to propose and introduce “comprehensive immigration reform” (amnesty) bills even as our borders remain open.

President Obama announced his comprehensive immigration reform proposal, “Building a 21st Century Immigration System,” in May. Then, on June 22 seven Democratic Senators announced their reintroduction of a comprehensive immigration bill, S. 1258, that would legalize the status of illegal immigrants already in the U.S.

According to ImmigrationImpact.com, S. 1258 "includes the creation of Lawful Prospective Immigration (LPI) status. Applicants for LPI status would be required to submit biometric data, go through security checks and pay a fine. After six to eight years of LPI status, undocumented immigrants could transition to Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) status after they pay taxes and additional fines, learn English and U.S. civics, and undergo additional background checks." According to S. 1258, "An alien may not be granted lawful prospective immigrant status ... unless the alien ... was physically present in the United States before June 1, 2011."

So there you have it. The Democrats’ new immigration reform bill would create a new procedure for legalizing the status of illegal immigrants who arrived before June 1, 2011, which would include the creation of a new status, “Lawful Prospective Immigration” status, or LPI for short. After registering and paying a fine, LPIs would be on track to become “Legal Permanent Residents” (LPRs).

We’ve already been through this type of legalization program with the major amnesty legislation of 1986 and other minor amnesties since. Millions of illegal immigrants became citizens through these earlier amnesty programs. And, guess what? We still have the illegal immigration problem with us today, only it's worse than ever.

Of course, we could have a continuous amnesty program that would legalize virtually every person who crossed the border and applied for citizenship, but that would mean that we would be permitting unlimited immigration and creating a de facto open border. And, this appears to be the direction that the Obama administration (and the Bush administration before it) is going in now with its discretionary enforcement of our immigration laws.

However, the Executive Branch of our federal government should not be allowed to make a decision to adopt an open borders policy on its own authority. Instead, Congress, representing the current citizens, should make such a decision for or against unlimited immigration and open borders.

What we need is for Congress to honor its oath of office to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States,”which includes supporting Article IV, Section 4, "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion...." Congress needs to pass the necessary and appropriate legislation to fix the illegal immigration crisis by:

Securing our national borders;

Strictly enforcing all existing immigration laws;

Ending the economic incentives for illegal immigration;

Ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants;

Rejecting any form of amnesty for illegal immigrants;

Placing a moratorium on temporary worker and guest worker legislation until illegal immigration has been brought under control; and

Defunding, dismantling, or repealing any government programs or agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), President George W. Bush's Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), and President Obama's Beyond the Border Working Group agreement with Canada, that would lead to the eventual creation of an open borders North American Union (NAU).

Although the political climate has been very hostile for amnesty bills in recent years, we can’t get complacent and passive. We need to be proactive and tell our Representative and Senators that we oppose any type of amnesty legislation, and that furthermore we want them to begin fixing the illegal immigration problem in the seven ways listed above.

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